1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to crushing reinforced concrete pipe and recycling the steel and the concrete. It has a significant role in rehabilitating the infrastructure of sewage, drainage and water systems comprising large concrete piping or in pipe manufacturing to recycle faulted product back into material for production.
2. Description of the Related Art
At rehabilitation sites when old sections of sewer pipe or other kinds of precast reinforced concrete pipes were dug up because they had deteriorated and had to be replaced, the old pipe had to be hauled away to be disposed of which was very expensive due to inefficient space utilization when loading pipes on trucks. Sometimes the sections of pipe were hauled to a recycling center for recovering the concrete and the steel reinforcing rods therein and other times the pipes were taken to a landfill. The problem is that pipes do not neatly fit into a landfill without leaving gaps in the landfill, which may collapse causing problems in later years. Further, reinforcing rods may extend out of the concrete causing a hazard in the landfill.
At manufacturing facilities pipe may be manufactured with flaws and must be rejected. The rejected pipes need to be disposed of in the most efficient and environmentally friendly manner possible, such as by recycling the concrete and steel on site to applicable reuse.
There is a need for an economical device to remove the concrete from the reinforcing steel at a job site, or manufacturing facility so that the concrete and the steel can be more efficiently recycled.